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NSW History Awards 2026 shortlists announced

Thursday, 20 August 2026   Books+Publishing
@booksandpublishing

The State Library of NSW (SLNSW) has announced the shortlists for the 2026 NSW History Awards.

The shortlisted works across 6 categories, selected from 208 overall entries, are:

Australian History Prize ($15,000)

  • Aboriginal-Colonial Exchanges in New South Wales, 1800–1835: When the Strangers Came to Stay (Annemarie McLaren, Oxford University Press)
  • Apron-Sorrow / Sovereign-Tea (Natalie Harkin, Wakefield Press)
  • Clever Men: How Worlds Collided on the Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land of 1948 (Martin Thomas, Allen & Unwin).

General History Prize ($15,000)

  • Decoding the Hand: A History of Science, Medicine, and Magic (Alison Bashford, University of Chicago Press)
  • Errol Flynn: The True Story of Australia’s Hollywood Icon (Patricia A O’Brien, Allen & Unwin)
  • A Pacific Power: Liberal Imperialism in German Samoa (Matthew P Fitzpatrick, Oxford University Press).

NSW Community and Regional History Prize ($15,000)

  • Aboriginal-Colonial Exchanges in New South Wales, 1800–1835: When the Strangers Came to Stay (Annemarie McLaren, Oxford University Press)
  • Madness Then and Now (Toby Raeburn & Claire Chang, Liverpool City Library)
  • Views to Die For (Mark Skelsey, Trafalgar Publishing).

Digital History Prize ($15,000)

  • History Lab: Caribbean Echoes (Episodes 1 and 3, Season 7) (Sienna Brown & Ben Etherington, UTS Impact Studios)
  • History Lab: Darlinghurst’s AIDS Crisis (Parts 1, 2 and Trailer, Episodes 42–43) (Leigh Boucher, Regina Botros and Sarah Gilbert (UTS Impact Studios)
  • Operation Seagull: The Stockton Bight Disaster (Jacob Ure, Our Past).

Young People’s History Prize ($15,000)

  • Catalpa: Escape to Freedom (Mike Lefroy & Joy Lefroy, Fremantle Press)
  • A Loo of One’s Own (Eleri Harris, Allen & Unwin)
  • Trapped! (Julia Lawrinson, Fremantle Press).

Anzac Memorial Trustees Military History Prize ($10,000)

  • The Anzac Table (Daniel Reynaud & Emanuela Reynaud, Hardie Grant Media).
  • Australia’s Coastal War: When World War Two reached our shores (Tom Lewis, Big Sky Publishing)
  • New Feller Master: Beyond the Trenches Australia’s Neglected WWI Story (Michael Piggott, Big Sky Publishing).

Awards judge Richard Scully said: “From beautifully illustrated works for young people and digital works of great innovation to classic monographs by academics and enthusiasts, we have been spoiled for choice with this wealth of new histories […] despite rumours of its death, history is alive and well in Australia, and thriving.”

The winners will be announced at a ceremony at the SLNSW on Monday 7 September during History Week. More information is available on the SLNSW website.

 

Category: Awards Local news